Rainy Memorial Day "somber, not sad" as flags fly

Blackwell’s annual Memorial Day ceremony took place at the Blackwell Cemetery on South Main Street Monday morning in the pouring rain. The mood of the day was reflected in First Baptist Church Pastor Cody Biby’s sermon, which he gave under an umbrella alongside Elks Lodge representative Jason Kuchar and Veterans of Foreign Wars/American Legion representative Craig Webb.

“Today is somber, not sad,” Biby said through the downpour just before 11 a.m. In his sermon, he quoted General George S. Patton and Easy Company’s commander, Dick Winters. Biby thanked all of America’s men and women who served and paid the ultimate price, giving their lives for freedom.

It is customary that Blackwell’s Memorial Day ceremony includes a wreath-laying at the veteran’s memorial in the cemetery, but Webb said inclement weather would postpone the ceremony by at least a week.

2021 Memorial Day Flags are being flown by: Melvin Cassie, Clyde L. Smith, Warren G. Harden, Fred A Gilpin, John Thompson, Dale E. Ferguson, Delbert Adams, Throniall L. Johnson, Joe Coleman, Marion Lee Dirickson, Glen Earl Eckert, Moss Offield, Donald Mason Bass , Kenny Jernigan, Fred L. Marquart, Elvon Lee Moses, Ogden Dickerson, Bobby Webb Sr., Rudolph Grabowski, Duane Wilkey, Warren Bickford, Virgil Fazier, Loren Barrett, Edgar Williams, Ireband Clouse, William Park, James L. Looper, Forrest Junkens, Herbert H. Davis, Matt Jernigan, Kenneth E. Davis, Lester Corn, Peter I. Gates, George Bretch, John F. Park, Arthur Lewis, Quinton Pinnell, Alfred Davis, Dennis Kyrk, Kenneth Dale Hall, Robert McKinnis, Clarence A. Tickel, Charles Harned, Ralph Bungardner, Herbert Hale, Dale Estes, Grover Lee Billy Wright, Andrew P. Mortonson, Roy R. Johnston, AC Handy, James R. Oiler, Ricky Parker, C. Benton Kanewske, Bufford J. Couch, Ed Collyer, Angelo Vaughn, Willard J. Ellington, Bobby Parcher, Coleman Jenkins, Chester A. Hasselbring, Joe Wasika, Dewey Rector, Don Mickey, Norris R. Taylor, M.V. Bradshaw, Charles Allen Bass, Joseph L. Randell Sr., Chester L. Colclasure, Walter Fields, Preston Teters, John H. Hardin, Lee Jones, Elmer Merle Ellis, Vernon Bovard, Edger Skeleton, Billy Mack Foresman, O.O. Allender, Earl Shirley, Charlie Corn, Lewellyn Maxwell, Arthur Beliel, Arnold J. Ekland, Steven T. Lambert Sr., Edward J. Scott, Bonnie Pike, Lloyd O. Bumgardner, Lewis S. Blagben, Phillip Simpson, Vernon E. McGrew, Bob Harlan, Richard E. Cooper, Thomas P. Looper, James Dale Youn